Issue 188, Summer 2009 - Telegraph Hill Dwellers

North Beach Vacancies cont’d from page 11years in spite of interested tenants.Lastly, we have the 20 “for lease” commercialvacancies in North Beach. Why do they becomevacant? Why do they remain vacant for long periodsof time? The reasons are complex and there is certainlyno one-size-fits-all answer for every location.Reasons that are common to all the City’s neighborhoodcommercial districts at this time are thegeneral downturn in the economy and the high cost ofdoing business in San Francisco as compared to othercities. Reasons more specific to North Beach includelandlords asking for prohibitively high rents and thenow negative reputation of North Beach as cateringonly to rowdy nighttime crowds, along with theongoing weekend violence on nearby Broadway, whichoften spills over onto the streets of North Beach.Would-be retail business owners see this as a hugenegative to locating here since people no longer thinkof North Beach as a shopping district. The loss of ourformer independently owned neighborhood-servingbusinesses—and the related difficulty of attractingothers—can also be attributed in part to the lack ofneighborhood support for such businesses, as residentsleave the neighborhood to get cheaper prices atbig box stores such as Costco and Office Depot.Unrealistically High RentsSome landlords list their properties for unrealisticallyhigh rents, leaving them empty for yearson end. For instance, the vacant storefronts at 1541Grant Avenue and 1528 Grant Avenue were occupiedat one time by successful neighborhood businesses(Columbine Design and Lilith), but the landlords inboth cases chose to continue to raise rents until thetenants could no longer afford them and were forcedto leave. And in both of these situations, the landlordlisted the vacant storefronts for a substantiallyhigher rent than what the previous businesses hadpaid. Both spots have been vacant (except for shortterm leases) for many years. Another example of avacant storefront with unrealistically high rent is 700Filbert Street, formerly occupied by PIP, which hasbeen vacant and covered with graffiti for many years.524 Union Street, formerly occupied by the PaperDoll and more recently by Silhouettes and The FieldRestaurant and Pub, has been vacant for years in spiteof known interest by reputable would-be tenants. Thegood news is that a few of these long-term vacanciesare finally starting to lower their asking prices. Perhapswe have the economy to thank for this.Some of these locations are also asking for rentplus “triple net,” which means the tenant is also financiallyresponsible for property taxes on their portionof the building, along with building insurance andall repairs needed to the leased area, including thecosts for major repairs. Often times, the “triple net”clause can be the straw that breaks the camel’s backfor small business owners.Why would a building owner voluntarily leavea property empty rather than lower the rent toattract a tenant? Keep in mind that many of theseproperties are owned by entities that own numerousproperties and have chosen to take a tax write-off ona particular space and wait for the next boom in theeconomy to deliver a tenant who will pay their askingprice. These owners appear to be unconcernedwith how their vacant properties negatively affect ourneighborhood or the nearby businesses and are oftenowned by absentee landlords with no commitmentto the long-term health of the neighborhood.Undesirable Street ActivityPixie, a successful women’s clothing shop previouslylocated at 1400 Grant Avenue was driven outby repeated robberies, break-ins and threats made byunsavory drug-dealers, which unfortunately forcedthe store to close its doors. Reopened as a frozenyogurt shop, this business was short lived due to itsfailure to attract business.continued on page 1312 Issue #188 • Summer 2009